The way Shaw plays was the reason for his promotion to the senior team, reveals Virat Kohli

The way Shaw plays was the reason for his promotion to the senior team, reveals Virat Kohli

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Virat Kohli has asserted that Prithvi Shaw’s rush to the senior team was an expected move as the latter has unique quality as a batsman. India today got its biggest Test win in terms of runs as they defeated Windies by an innings and 272 runs thus taking a lead of 1-0 in the series.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has returned to the team after a well-deserved rest with a record win and also a century which he made in the first innings.  Choosing to bat first after winning the toss, with the help of three centuries from Kohli, debutante Prithvi Shaw, and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, India declared their first innings at a humongous score of 649 for 9. In reply, West Indies were all out for 181 and were made to follow-on but they, once again, failed to build any partnerships and lost the match by a record margin of an innings and 272 runs, scoring only 196 in the second innings. Prithvi Shaw became the youngest Indian to score a century on debut making 134 off 154 balls.

“Delighted for Prithvi and Jaddu. Playing his first game, seeing him dominate - the guy (Shaw) showed he is a different quality. That's why he's been pushed to the Test team. It is exciting to see from the captain's perspective," Kohli said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

"Jaddu as well - he has got important runs for us before and we wanted him to get three figures. We believe he can turn matches for us," skipper added.

The pitch at Rajkot didn't have much help to the fast bowlers. Out of the 20 wickets of the West Indian batting line-up, only three were taken by the pacers. Kohli had some words of praise for his pacers though.

"If you see the first innings, the way Umesh and Shami ran into bowl. Few wickets with the new ball and you can put the opposition under pressure. Shami took wickets on a pitch that was offering nothing".

In the second innings when India were bowling, it was mostly the three spinners that did the job, which helped India speed up the over rate. It can also be proved by the fact that in the second innings, Indian pacers got only six overs to bowl.

"It was a bit to do with the umpires pushing us as well. With the new rule of not drinking water. The guys struggled a bit because of that, it was difficult for guys to bat 45 minutes without water. I'm sure they'll look at those rules and adjust it for conditions."

India had recently lost the Test series in England 1-4. Skipper also spoke about the topic when prompted. 

"That was a bigger challenge. We understand that with the ability we have, we will dominate in these conditions. We were very clinical," Kohli said. 

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